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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that Iran has become a “new headquarters” for “Al Qaeda.” It confirmed a report in the “New York Times” newspaper that said the second man from the “Al Qaeda” organization was assassinated last year in Tehran, but did not say that Israel carried out the operation.
Pompeo said Iran had become the “new Afghanistan” and a “safe haven” for al-Qaeda, and regretted that the United States was unable to monitor the organization’s activity in Iran. He considered that “the relationship between Iran and al-Qaeda” threatens the normalization agreements between Israel and some Arab countries, and represents a threat to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The US Secretary of State stressed that “Bin Laden’s organization has been strengthened and we have to face this danger, and we have to defeat it,” adding that Iran has had strong relations with Al Qaeda for 3 decades. He noted that many of the 9/11 hijackers traveled to Iran, “although there is no evidence that Iran was involved in planning these attacks.”
He revealed the content of a message from bin Laden held by the United States Navy, in which he said that Iran “is the artery of Al Qaeda, and that it should not be fought.” He said al-Qaeda members living in Iran had previously given instructions to fly a train between Canada and New York, but the Canadian government foiled the plan.
The US secretary announced the imposition of sanctions on two members of Al-Qaeda and said they operate from inside Iran, namely Sultan Yusef Arafa and Muhammad Abaki, known as Abdul Rahman Al-Maghribi. And he announced a $ 70 million award for anyone who provides information that leads to the Moroccan, saying: “We want to bring him to the United States to face justice.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Pompeo saying: “No one is being misled. All of the 9/11 terrorists come from Pompeo’s favorite destinations in the Middle East. No one is from Iran. “
He added: “From the inclusion of Cuba (in the list of state sponsors of terrorism), to the fictitious lifting of secrecy on the accusations of Iran and Al Qaeda, Mr. Pompeo says: we lie, we cheat and we steal.
Earlier Tuesday, Mike Pompeo said in a tweet that the Iranian regime is a group of extremists. He wrote in a series of tweets: “The Trump administration recognizes that the Iranian regime is a group of extremist ideologues who have been hailing death to America since 1979.”
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